Monthly Archives: November 2006

While I’m sure that Microsoft didn’t expect to overtake the iPod’s marketshare immediately, how long will it take to even start? I think it’s obvious that to win, M$ will have to come out with some pretty significant improvements to silence the critics in their second gen version. However they may never be able to since most of the faults seem to lie with the DRM limits on transferred songs – if you send a song to someone via the WiFi built-in to each Zune, that song can only be play a max of three times or auto-expires after 3 days. Since the record labels seem to require DRM on any officially-sanctioned music available through online stores, this probably won’t go away.

My main gripe is not with the limits of transferred songs so much as *how* they get transferred: the only way this has been shown to work is to actively SEND someone near you a particular song. I think they are completely missing the point of accessing music through an mp3 player itself: browsing other peoples music and TAKING what you want. For myself this strength would be self-evident: in the student union I used to bring my Tablet PC (no I cannot just call it a laptop, I have to show off ‘cuz a Tablet is worth some geek cred, dig?), open iTunes and look through all the music on everyone’s laptop around me. This was a great way to get a break from my own collection, and very amusing as well since some people have such horrible tastes.

So, in conclusion, Zune not doing so hot during its launch right now, why the hell did they setup the wireless transfer capabilities backwards? And don’t even get me started on the commercials which are clearly a product made by committee because no director worth they probably paid is that much of a hack. Well, maybe…

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After playing the PS3 several times at different stores and thinking about it too much I have…realized that I don’t hate it as much as I thought I should…I guess. Before I played it, it was a foregone conclusion: $600 for a console, that only adds the incremental bump in graphics is stupid. Stoopid even. Then I played it. Now, I wasn’t blown away or anything, and my conclusion is still essentially the same. However, the graphics are pretty. They allow you to see individual parts of a car as it gets smashed against a boulder. It’s kinda neat. So, when it comes down in price, gets rid of some dumb limitations (see these for a starter, and there are many more around if you look) and if Sony ever actually produces anywhere near the numbers (rumor is that they won’t even reach 500,000 in the “launch window” which is pitiful); basically if they can start doing anything right after the series of many missteps they’ve made in the last couple of years it could be a great system.

Anyways, games are fun and with stunning graphics they’re funner. However, a choice between a PS3 and a Wii is a choice between the most high-end game console that would complement a state-of-the-art home theater system and better and innovative gameplay. I’m more interested in new ways to play, graphics have been improving for years, it’s not a novel advance like the Wiimote is.

What I’m wondering is if PS3 developers are scrapping PS3 plans and switching development to other systems as a result of the extremely limited availability of the PS3…oh wait, they’re already doing that (see Grand Theft Auto 4 and Assassin’s Creed, among others)…and did you see that Sony’s stock has been going down since the new Playstation launch? Things are bad in Sony land.

Looks like it’ll be a Wii60 combo for me this generation.

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I spent the afternoon and evening playing my friend Bret’s Wii. I give it 4 out of 5 tinkles. Why not a perfect 5? On its own the system as a concept and implementation is perfect, however, if there’s not a lot of 3rd party support it will go the way of the Gamecube. So pending much support and more clever implementation of the Wiimote and overall control scheme, it’s perfect. Seriously, it’s great. My only gripe was with the controls in Wii Boxing, which needs some tuning.

Downloading games and using the Virtual Console (and the system menus in general) was great. The tiny little bumps while “mousing” (wii-ing?) over things made it tactile and the system was responsive and provided nice little aural feedback noise upon selections, similar to how a TiVo does, only more elegantly. In fact, the whole “whiteness” of the thing, along with its size and the whole crisp feel to everything reminded me a lot of the Dreamcast. Let’s hope this isn’t Nintendo’s last console though…

Playing Zelda: TP was much MUCH easier than I’ve read about. All the reports I had read said that everyone should expect at it to take at least 20 – 30 min. to get used to the new controls. Try 5. I was completely comfortable with using the Wiimote and Nunchuk after 5 minutes. Maybe it was the first game those other reviewers used, while I got acclimated to everything by playing most of Wii Sports beforehand. Twilight Princess, at least the 10 minutes I played, was great. I feel it sucking me in already…

I’ve gotta ending these paragraphs like that…the only other game I got to play was Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam which looks and sounds retarded. It’s great. In fact the gameplay was so fun that I decided that if/when I get my own Wii, that will be the second game I purchase (cuz TP has to be the first).

And now I shall expound on my deep wisdom regarding the PS3.

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I’ve never read Paul Auster’s New York trilogy, and I may never. However, as a great story and a great comic I recommend Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli’s supreme adaptation of City of Glass. It’s essentially about an author who has hid himself away in New York after the deaths of his wife and child and writes detective pulp. Reality becomes warped as the author gradually fades into his own mind and plots one of his novels around himself. The surreal story introduces some very interesting characters with equally crazy theories about life, God and language. If you’ve read the novel I’d love to hear your take on the story.

Note: the link above takes you to Amazon where they have provided several pages for preview.

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She’s 6 months old, birthday in April. Her alter-ego comes out at night to solve crimes involving catnip, feather toys and plastic, although mostly it’s her creating these crimes and us solving them at 2am. This other half is known as Sneaky Pie Brown.